The Growl

Mandatory SAT chaotic event

The district paid for all juniors to take the SAT on March 6. This is a special opportunity that most students in other districts do not have. However, because of the unorganization and overall lack of information provided, it was less of an opportunity and more of a disaster. The execution of the SAT was hectic, and this isn’t the first time the school has failed to organize something that is this important. Faculty and staff needs to better organize school testing and events.

The process of signing in at our school was chaotic. There were four tables, and only one of them was to check your calculators. Since almost every student needed to check their calculator, it made no sense for there to be only one line. Whenever there is a Saturday SAT testing date hosted on another campus, the signing in process goes a lot differently. The campus will post room numbers around the school, then the teacher that proctors your test will check your ID and calculator. This is a much more efficient way of administering a test, and results in the test starting on time. The added stress of the sign in process and starting the test over an hour later than expected likely affected scores. Testing in an organized and familiar setting is a luxury that our school failed to provide.

This isn’t the first time something like this has happened. Thinking back to last year’s exemption process, there is a common theme: The lack of organization resulting in a major delay. Many students who did not have to take their final were at the school for half the time students who were taking finals were. Whether this is because of the lack of staff, the lack of communication or the lack of experience is irrelevant. The school needs to start making improvements in the way things are run. Many staff members were not aware of what was going on, to the extent of not knowing what the sign in lines were for. It made no sense for students to be expected to handle these hectic situations calmly whenever the staff is completely uninformed and stressed out.

Since our school is only in its third year, some may argue that dysfunctionality is commonplace. This could be a sound argument for why the SAT went horribly. However, there are specific college board guidelines and five other high schools in the district that show our school how to proctor a test correctly. There has also already been an SAT administered at our school that was done correctly. Our school puts so much emphasis on doing things differently and being unique, but fails to realize that some things are done uniformly across the board because that is the correct way and only way that works. Just because the school is new is no excuse for the lack of organization that robs its students of a stress free environment for a test that determines their future.

Our school had little to no organization on the SAT testing day. With other events unfolding similarly, it’s time for faculty and staff to take a close look at their methods of organization. The SAT should be proctored the way every other school does to ensure starting on time and a stress free environment that our students deserve.